The authors thank Yeon-Joo Jung for her experimental support during synaptosome purification and Jungjoo Park for images of synaptosomes with PS exposure. In addition, we thank all members in Chung&#39;s laboratory for helpful discussion. This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korean government (MSIP) (NRF-2016M3C7A1905391 and NRF-2016R1C1B3006969) (W.-S. C).

All methods described here have been approved by The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), KA2016-08.
1. Synaptosome Purification
NOTE: These procedures are adapted from a previously published paper19 with several modifications to improve the yield of purified synaptosomes (Figure 1).
<ol>
	<li>Prepare discontinuous density gradient media.
	<ol>
...

<ol>
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The authors have nothing to disclose.

In this article, we present methods for a long-term live-imaging in vitro phagocytosis assay using purified glial cells and pH indicator-conjugated synaptosomes. We show that compared with microglia, astrocytes possess different engulfment and degradation capacity during the phagocytosis of synaptosomes. In addition, our data suggest that astrocyte-secreted factors, which contain bridging molecules such as GAS6, ProteinS, and MEGE8, are essential for efficient PS-dependent phagocytosis of glial cells in the brai...

Glial cells, which refer to non-excitable cells in the brain, are the major cell type in the central nervous system (CNS). Previously, glial cells were regarded as mere supporting cells that mainly play passive roles in maintaining neuronal survival and basal synaptic properties. However, emerging evidence has revealed that glial cells play more active roles in various aspects of neurobiology, such as maintaining brain homeostasis, mediating synapse formation1,2,3 and synapse elimination4,5, and modulating synaptic plasticity6,7. Glial cells in the CNS include astrocytes, microglia, and oligodendrocytes. Among these cells, astrocytes and microglia have been shown to play phagocytic roles by engulfing synapses4,5, apoptotic cells8, neural debris9, and pathogenic proteins, such as amyloid beta plaques10,11. In the developing brain, astrocytes eliminate synapses in the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN) through MERTK- and MEGF10-dependent phagocytosis4. Similarly, microglia also eliminate C1q-coated synapses during developmental stages through the classical complement cascade5. Interestingly, it has been suggested that defects in synapse pruning can be one of the initiators of several neurological disorders. For example, it has been shown that mutations in complement component 4 (C4), which increases complement-mediated synapse pruning by microglia, are strongly associated with the prevalence of schizophrenia in humans12. A recent paper has also shown that the classical complement pathway is hyperactivated in the initiation stages of AD and induces early synapse loss in this disease13.
Compared with microglia-mediated phagocytosis, whether astrocyte-mediated phagocytosis contributes to the initiation and progression of various neurological disorders is less clear. However, a recent paper suggests that factors that alter the rate of normal synapse pruning by astrocytes may disrupt brain homeostasis and contribute to AD susceptibility and pathology14. The rate of synapse pruning by astrocytes is powerfully controlled by ApoE isomers, with a protective allele for AD (ApoE2) strongly enhancing the rate and a risk allele for AD (ApoE4) significantly lowering the rate. Moreover, transgenic mice expressing ApoE4 accumulated much more synaptic C1q than control or ApoE2 mice14. These data suggest that impaired astrocyte-mediated phagocytosis in the early AD brain may induce the accumulation of senescent C1q-coated synapses/synaptic debris that activates complement-mediated microglial phagocytosis, driving synaptic degeneration. The impaired phagocytic capacity of astrocytes in ApoE4 carriers may also contribute to the uncontrolled accumulation of amyloid beta plaques in AD-affected brains.
In addition, it has been shown that glial cells in the aged Drosophila brain lose their phagocytic capacity due to decreased translation of Draper, a homolog of Megf10 that astrocytes use for phagocytosing synapses. Restoring Draper levels rescued the phagocytic capacity of glial cells, which efficiently cleared damaged axonal debris in the aged brain to a similar extent as that in the young brain, indicating that aging-induced alterations in the phagocytic capacity of astrocytes may contribute to disruption of brain homeostasis15.
Based on these new findings, modulating the phagocytic capacity of astrocytes may be an attractive therapeutic strategy to prevent and treat various neurological disorders. In this regard, there have been several attempts to enhance the phagocytic capacity of astrocytes, for example, by inducing acidification of lysosomes with acidic nanoparticles16 and overexpressing transcription factor EB (TFEB), which can enhance lysosome biogenesis17. Despite these attempts, it is still unclear how astrocytes and microglial cells differ in their phagocytic kinetics and whether we should increase or decrease their phagocytic capacities in various diseases.
In this paper, we present a novel in vitro assay for detecting the phagocytic capacity of astrocytes in real-time. The data show different kinetics of engulfment and degradation in astrocytes and microglia. Astrocyte-conditioned medium (ACM), which contains secreted factors from astrocytes, is essential for effective phagocytosis of both astrocytes and microglia. Furthermore, Megf10, a phagocytic receptor in astrocytes and a homolog of Ced-1 and Draper, plays critical roles in astrocyte-mediated phagocytosis8,18.

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>Synaptosome purification</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Percoll</td>
			<td>GE healthcare life sciences</td>
			<td>17-0891-01</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Quick Start Bradford Protein Assay Kit 2</td>
			<td>BIO-RAD</td>
			<td>5000202</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>pH indicator conjugation</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Dimethyl sulfoxide(DMSO)</td>
			<td>LPS solution</td>
			<td>DMSO100</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>pHrodo red, succinimidyl ester</td>
			<td>Molecula probes</td>
			<td>P36600</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Immunopanning</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>10X Earle&#8217;s balanced salt solution (EBSS)</td>
			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td>E7510</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Bovine serum albumin</td>
			<td>Bovogen</td>
			<td>BSA025</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Deoxyrebonuclease 1 (DNase)</td>
			<td>Worthington</td>
			<td>Is002007</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>(DMEM)</td>
			<td>Gibco</td>
			<td>11960-044</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>(dPBS)</td>
			<td>Welgene</td>
			<td>LB001-02</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Fetal bovine serum (FBS)</td>
			<td>Gibco</td>
			<td>16000-044</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Griffonia Simplicifolia Lectin(BSL-1)</td>
			<td>Vector Labs</td>
			<td>L-1100</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Goat anti-mouse IgG+IgM(H+L)</td>
			<td>Jackson ImmunoResearch</td>
			<td>115-005-044</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Goat anti-mouse IgM (&#956;-chain)</td>
			<td>Jackson ImmunoResearch</td>
			<td>115-005-020</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Heparin-binding epidermal growth factor</td>
			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td>E4643</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Human HepaCAM antibody</td>
			<td>R&#38;D systems</td>
			<td>MAB4108</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Integrin beta 5 monoclonal antibody (KN52)</td>
			<td>eBioscience</td>
			<td>14-0497-82</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>L-cysteine</td>
			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td>C7880</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>L-glutamate</td>
			<td>Gibco</td>
			<td>25030-081</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>N-acetly-L-cyteine (NAC)</td>
			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td>A8199</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Neurobasal media</td>
			<td>Gibco</td>
			<td>21103-049</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>O4 hybridoma supernatant(mouse IgM)</td>
			<td>Bansal et al.23</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Papain</td>
			<td>Worthington</td>
			<td>Is003126</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Penicillin/streptomycin</td>
			<td>Gibco</td>
			<td>15140-122</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Pluristrainer 20 &#956;m</td>
			<td>PluriSelect</td>
			<td>43-50020-03</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Poly-D-lysine</td>
			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td>P6407</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Progesterone</td>
			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td>P8783</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Putrescine dihydrochloride</td>
			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td>P5780</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Purified rat anti-mouse CD45</td>
			<td>BD Pharmingen</td>
			<td>550539</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Purified mouse anti-rat CD45</td>
			<td>BD Pharmingen</td>
			<td>554875</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Sodium pyruvate</td>
			<td>Gibco</td>
			<td>11360-070</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Sodium selenite</td>
			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td>S5261</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Transferrin</td>
			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td>T1147</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Trypsin</td>
			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td>T9935</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Trypsin inhibitor</td>
			<td>Worthington</td>
			<td>LS003086</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Ultra-clear tube (Tube, Thinwall, Ultra-Clear)</td>
			<td>Beckman Coulter</td>
			<td>344059</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Collect IP-ACM</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Macrosep Advance Centrifugal Devices with Omega Membrane (10k)</td>
			<td>PALL</td>
			<td>MAP010C37</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Macrosep Advance Centrifugal Devices with Omega Membrane (30k)</td>
			<td>PALL</td>
			<td>MAP030C37</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Phagocytosis live imaging assay</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Juli stage</td>
			<td>NanoEntek</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Time Series Analyzer V3 plugins</td>
			<td>https://imagej.nih.gov/ij/plugins/time-series.html</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

a novel in vitro live-imaging assay of astrocyte-mediated phagocytosis using ph indicator-conjugated synaptosomes

Astrocytes are the major cell type in the brain and directly contact synapses and blood vessels. Although microglial cells have been considered the major immune cells and only phagocytes in the brain, recent studies have shown that astrocytes also participate in various phagocytic processes, such as developmental synapse elimination and clearance of amyloid beta plaques in Alzheimer&#39;s disease (AD). Despite these findings, the efficiency of astrocyte engulfment and degradation of their targets is unclear compared with that of microglia. This lack of information is mostly due to the lack of an assay system in which the kinetics of astrocyte- and microglia-mediated phagocytosis are easily comparable. To achieve this goal, we have developed a long-term live-imaging in vitro phagocytosis assay to evaluate the phagocytic capacity of purified astrocytes and microglia. In this assay, real-time detection of engulfment and degradation is possible using pH indicator-conjugated synaptosomes, which emit bright red fluorescence in acidic organelles, such as lysosomes. Our novel assay provides simple and effective detection of phagocytosis through live-imaging. In addition, this in vitro phagocytosis assay can be used as a screening platform to identify chemicals and compounds that can enhance or inhibit the phagocytic capacity of astrocytes. As synaptic pruning malfunction and pathogenic protein accumulation have been shown to cause mental disorders or neurodegenerative diseases, chemicals and compounds that modulate the phagocytic capacity of glial cells should be helpful in treating various neurological disorders.

In this in vitro phagocytosis assay with long-term live-imaging, we used synaptosomes from adult mouse brain homogenates, which were separated in the gradient solution between 23% gradient solution and 10% gradient solution by ultracentrifugation (Figure 3). After the preparation, synaptosomes exposed PS in their outer membrane (Figure 4), suggesting that they lost their function and could be recognized by PS receptors i...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about A Novel In Vitro Live-imaging Assay of Astrocyte-mediated Phagocytosis Using pH Indicator-conjugated Synaptosomes at JoVE.com

A Novel In Vitro Live-imaging Assay of Astrocyte-mediated Phagocytosis Using pH Indicator-conjugated Synaptosomes

This protocol presents an in vitro live-imaging phagocytosis assay to measure the phagocytic capacity of astrocytes. Purified rat astrocytes and microglia are used along with pH indicator-conjugated synaptosomes. This method can detect real-time engulfment and degradation kinetics and provides a suitable screening platform to identify factors modulating astrocyte phagocytosis.

A Novel In Vitro Live-imaging Assay of Astrocyte-mediated Phagocytosis Using pH Indicator-conjugated Synaptosomes

Astrocytes are the major cell type in the brain and directly contact synapses and blood vessels. Although microglial cells have been considered the major ...

The overall goal of this experiment is to detect the real time engulfment and degradation kinetics of glial cells, such as astrocytes and microglia, through in vitro live-imaging of the phagocytosis of pH indicator-conjugated synaptosomes. This method can help answer key questions in the neuroscience field, such as how is glial cell phagocytosis regulated in healthy and diseased brains. The main advantage of this technique is that we can effectively monitor and analyze the real time phagocytic kinetics of glial cells through live imaging of in vitro cultured cells.This method can also be used to screen for factors and compounds that regulate the engulfment and degradation capacity of glial cells. Begin by centrifuging the thawed synaptosome samples for three to four minutes at 21, 092 G and four degrees Celsius. After aspirating the supernatants, re-suspend the pellets in 200 microliters of 0.1 molar sodium carbonate per tube, adding two microliters of pH indicator to each sample after they have been thoroughly mixed.After a gentle vortex, protect the solutions from light with aluminum foil covers, and place the samples in a twist shaker with gentle agitation for two hours at room temperature. At the end of the incubation, add one milliliter of Dulbecco's PBS, or DPBS, and collect the synaptosomes by centrifugation, re-suspending the pellet in one milliliter of fresh DPBS per wash. After the last centrifugation, re-suspend the non-functional synaptosome pellet in 200 microliters of DPBS supplemented with 5%DMSO.For live imaging of the synaptosome engulfment, first remove the supernatant from each well of a confluent astrocyte culture, and quickly wash the cells three times with one milliliter of DPBS per wash. After the last wash, add 300 microliters of immunopanned astrocyte basic medium and five microliters of the pH indicator-conjugated synaptosomes, as well as any additional factors that can modulate glial cell phagocytosis. Allow the synaptosomes to settle to the bottoms of the wells and to attach to phosphatidyl serine receptors on the astrocytes at 37 degrees Celsius and 5%Co2.After 40 minutes, discard the supernatants and quickly but gently wash the wells three times with one milliliter of DPBS per wash. After the last wash, add 500 microliters of fresh medium supplemented with the factors of interest to the appropriate wells and transfer the plate to a live imaging instrument. Select the imaging positions, adjust the focus, exposure time, brightness, and LED power, and set the image format, time interval, and total number of cycles for live imaging as experimentally appropriate.Then, begin live imaging the phagocytosis experiments. At the appropriate experimental endpoint, open an imagine analysis program and import the time lapse image sequence. Convert the images to 8-bit grayscale and initiate a background subtraction with a rolling bar radius of 50 pixels.Next, open the Time Series Analyzer V3 plugin and drag the region of interest into the plugin. In the region of interest manager, click Add. In the Time Series V3 plugin, click Get Total Intensity.Then, save the results and integrate the data. After their preparation, the synaptosomes express phosphatidyl serine on their outer membranes, suggesting a loss of function, and that can be recognized by phosphatidyl serine receptors on astrocytes and microglia. As the pH indicator-conjugated synaptosomes are phagocytosed they emit bright red fluorescents.To quantify glial cell phagocytosis, the area of red fluorescence signal, or phagocytic index, can be measured. Although astrocytes are efficient at phagocytosing large numbers of pH indicator-conjugated synaptosomes, microglia are faster at engulfing and degrading the synaptosomes. Interestingly, astrocyte secreted factors, which are contained in astrocyte conditioned medium, are essential for increasing both astrocyte and microglia mediated phagocytosis.Further, mouse MEGF10 knockout astrocytes demonstrated significantly impaired phagocytic capacity compared to wild type cells. After its development, this technique paved the way for researchers in the field of neuroscience and glial cell biology to explore the mechanisms involved in the modulation of glial cell phagocytosis as a potential method for treating various neurological disorders.

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Research

JoVE Journal

Neuroscience

11.9K Görüntüleme.  Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. The overall goal of this experiment is to detect the real time engulfment and degradation kinetics of glial cells, such as astrocytes and microglia, through in vitro live-imaging of the phagocytosis of pH indicator-conjugated synaptosomes. This method can help answer key questions in the neuroscience field, such as how is glial cell phagocytosis regulated in healthy and diseased brains. The main advantage of this technique is that we can effectively monitor and analyze the real time phagocyti...